The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a PIL that seeks to make ‘yoga’ a compulsory subject for students up to Class 8 across the country. The hearing on the petition, filed by Ashwini Upadhyay of the Delhi BJP, will take place on November 7.
The petition argues that despite the national curriculum framework (NCF), framed by the Centre in 2005, specifying yoga as a “core and compulsory subject of the elementary education... (and, therefore) needs to be given equal status with other subjects”, the matter has not being dealth with to date.
About 20 crore children throughout the country study in primary and junior classes and yoga should be taught to them as a compulsory subject as per the NCF guideline, which was notified under Section 7(6) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, the petition said.
The petitioner submitted there should be proper implementation of “yoga and health education” at primary and junior-level to make the child healthy through “pranayams” and “asanas.” “Right to Health is an integral part of Right to Life under the Article 21 of the Constitution. It includes protection, prevention and cure, and is a minimum requirement to enable a person to live with human dignity,” reads Mr Upadhyay’s petition.
The petitioner said the government has an obligation to provide health facilities to all the citizens, especially to children and adolescents. In a welfare state, it is the obligation of the government to ensure the creation and sustainability of conditions congenial to good health. Article 21, read with Article 39(e), 39(f) and 47 of the Constitution, casts the duty on the government to take appropriate steps to improve its citizens’ health and provide necessary information instruction and training in this regard,” the petition said.
